By Bill Franques, LSU Senior Associate Communications Director
BATON ROUGE – First baseman Angel Cano drove in five runs Sunday night to lead Little Rock to a 10-4 win over LSU in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
The teams will meet again at 8 p.m. CT Monday in the regional championship game, with the winner advancing to face West Virginia in an NCAA Super Regional beginning either Friday or Saturday.
Monday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised on ESPN2.
Little Rock improved to 27-33 on the season with Sunday night’s win, while LSU dropped to 45-15. The Trojans earlier on Sunday won an elimination game over Dallas Baptist, 8-6.
“Great job by Little Rock today,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “Winning two games against two great teams, and you’ve got to tip your hat to them. They took a lot of good at-bats throughout the day. I watched their entire first game as it was transpiring and it was complete performance by them.
“I think our game tonight kind of speaks for itself where it got away from us and we’ll leave it here tonight, turn all our focus to tomorrow and find a way to play great.”
Cano was 2-for-5 at the plate with a two-run homer and a three-run double, as Little Rock erased an early 3-0 LSU lead with six combined runs in the second and third innings.
Brenden Katz (1-0), the second of four Little Rock pitchers, was credited with the win, as he worked 1.2 scoreless innings while allowing two hits with two walks and one strikeout.
Reliever Malcolm Brown earned his first save of the season for the Trojans, limiting LSU to one run on three hits in 5.1 innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
LSU reliever Chase Shores (5-3) was charged with the loss, as he allowed four runs on one hit in 1.0 inning with three walks and two strikeouts.
LSU freshman left-hander Cooper Williams delivered an effective bullpen performance for the Tigers, firing 3.2 scoreless innings with three hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
“Our players have done a good job this year of bouncing back after a tough game, both individually and collectively,” Johnson said, “and it gives me great confidence about what they can do tomorrow.”